CRYSTAL PALACE VS. LIVERPOOL

| Saturday, December 19th |

Premier League | Selhurst Park

12:30PM GMT/ 7:30AM EST

Jürgen Klopp was in a jovial mood in his pre-match press conference,
despite the bad news breaking about clubs’ refusal to allow five substitutes in the
Premier League — a player welfare issue Klopp has been a vocal
proponent of.

Players are returning to fitness, though this match might come a
bit too soon for some (Klopp has been careful to clarify that
Thiago is not in full team training as yet, for instance, and James
Milner might not be quite ready). Some rotation can be expected,
depending on squad fitness levels (Gini seems to play every
possible minute regardless). Because there is a break following
this match as after facing Palace Liverpool have a “rest” until a
return to action on December 27th, it would not be horribly
unexpected to see players on a lot of minutes asked to go
again.

It would not be a massive surprise if Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain or
Naby Keïta manage quite a few minutes in London on Saturday, though
these minutes might come off the bench. Joël Matip and maybe James
Milner might return, but Diogo Jota, Konstantinos Tsimikas, Xherdan
Shaqiri, and of course both of Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez remain
unavailable.

Liverpool’s form against Tottenham was miles ahead of their poor
performance against Fulham; if the Reds can achieve their desired
levels, they should have too much for Palace, though fans should
expect a well-fought game, as Palace have proved their ability to
stay in games thus far this season, even if they go down.

Projected Liverpool Lineup (4-3-3)

Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Fabinho, Robertson; Henderson,
Keïta, Jones; Salah, Firmino, Mané

London has been
placed into Tier 3, so Saturday’s match will take place behind
closed doors, and Palace will lack the support that might have
otherwise helped them face up against new league leaders
Liverpool.

While the Eagles are not looking at an injury list as long as
Klopps’, Roy Hodgson has some challenges in his team selection:
Christian Benteke is suspended following his red card against West
Ham; Connor Wickham, Martin Kelly, Nathan Ferguson, and Wayne
Hennessey are unavailable through injury — and this match might be
a bit too soon for Mamadou Sakho’s return to fitness. Wilfried Zaha
has returned to the side, though, and Palace has looked bright in
recent fixtures despite these significant challenges.

Hodgson doesn’t have a great record against Liverpool since
leaving as manager, and with Palace he’s on five straight defeats, though some of these
scorelines have been tight. While an away win against Palace might
normally be expected, in such a demanding schedule it’s hard to
know what form we’ll see.

Palace have also been strong with staying in games, including
against then-league leaders Spurs last weekend, when Palace came
back to earn a draw in the final ten minutes — something to pay
attention to, since despite fixture-fatigue, matches involving
Liverpool have been alive late on: the Reds have conceded or scored in the final 15 minutes
in 10 of the 13 league matches thus far this season.

What the Managers Had to Say

Jurgen Klopp: “They have a confident situation
and I am impressed by their performance level … They look good,
they look sharp. It will be a tough one.”

Roy Hodgson: “For the second weekend in a row
we meet the team that’s on top of the table and teams are on top of
the table for a reason: because they’ve got exceptional
quality.”

The Officials

Referee: Jonathan Moss
Assistants: Marc Perry, Dan Robathan
Fourth official: Stuart Attwell
VAR: Simon Hooper Assistant VAR:
Dan Cook

Kickoff is set for 13:30PM GMT/7:30AM EST tomorrow, and
television listings for the match can be found on LiveSoccerTV. In the meantime, we’ll be keeping
you updated with all the buildup to the game, including team news
as it’s released, our live matchday thread, and post-match recaps
from The Liverpool Offside staff. If you want to join the
discussion, sign up for an SB Nation account to have your say on
the action as it happens.